1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for severing roots of bean sprouts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Roots of bean sprouts harvested are typically cut off for improvement in their appearances and resultant increase in the commodity quality before the bean sprouts are bagged to be shipped. The inventor developed apparatus for severing roots of bean sprouts as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,346,288 and 6,379,732, in order to automate cutting off bean sprouts. In these apparatus, bean sprouts are supplied onto a flat severing table and water is sprinkled onto the severing table so that while a cutter blade is moved along an upper side of the severing table having a number of severing slits each of which has such a width that a root of a bean sprout falls into each severing slit. Alternatively, air is caused to blow from above the severing table so that a flow of air flowing downward through the severing slits is produced to cause the roots of the bean sprouts on the severing table to fall into the severing slits. The roots of the bean sprouts fallen in the severing slits are severed by the cutter blade.
The inventor has found the following problem in the course of severing roots of a number of bean sprouts using the above-mentioned severing apparatus. The roots of bean sprouts are generally strong. Accordingly, only distal end side slender portions of the bean sprout roots fall into the severing slits just when water is sprinkled onto or air is caused to blow onto the bean sprouts from above. Thick portions of the bean sprout roots in the vicinity of sprouts are hard to bend and to urge into the severing slits. Furthermore, when the bean sprouts on the severing table are scraped up by the cutter blade to be stacked, the bean sprouts of an upper layer of the pile are hard to urge into the severing slits and accordingly cannot be severed. As a result, since the number of bean sprouts whose distal end slender portions of the roots have been severed is increased, it is difficult to sever all roots of bean sprouts efficiently and cleanly.